Introduction

A now proven strategy for enhancing protection of the skin from excessive exposure to free radicals is to support the skin endogenous antioxidant system^​1​. As the balance between different skin antioxidants is very important, a combined therapy using at least two antioxidants is preferable. Combining Vitamin C and Vitamin E in a single combined treatment has proven to be more effective than monotherapy treatments. This vitamin combination produces synergistic benefits over and above those of individual vitamin treatments.

“As the balance between different skin antioxidants is very important, a combined therapy using at least two antioxidants is desirable.”^​1​

Benefits for Your Skin

Combining Vitamin E and Vitamin C in a single formulation enhances the stability, skin penetration and effectiveness of the treatment over and above the individual vitamins. This type of combined therapy has been thoroughly researched in many reputable academic journals and the following skincare benefits are reported:

1. Enhanced Effectiveness by Combining Vitamin E with Vitamin C

As Vitamin E is our skin’s main oil soluble anti-oxidant, it helps protect skin lipids and proteins from environmental oxidative damage. Vitamin E is depleted by the action of UV radiation^​2,3​. Vitamin C regenerates Vitamin E after it completes it’s skin-protective, oxidative action^​4​. Because Vitamin C can regenerate Vitamin E, it greatly enhances the oxidative and protective capacity of the skin^​5​. Antioxidants do not work individually in the skin but work synergistically in an integrated and regulated way to protect against oxidative stress^​5​.

Because combined anti-oxidant treatments provides greater skin protection than single treatments, it is preferable to use skincare treatments containing anti-oxidant combinations^​5​.

2. Enhanced Formulation Stability

The biggest challenge to using Vitamin C in formulation is the stability of L-Ascorbic Acid because it quickly degrades in water^​6​. Despite many stabilisation attempts, L-Ascorbic acid remains too unstable to be incorporated in water solution skincare formulations. It has been shown that incorporation of Vitamin C and Vitamin E in microemulsion formulations enhanced stability of both vitamins as the emulsion structure provides greater protection^​1​. Ferulic acid has been shown to add further stability to a combined formulation of Vitamin C and Vitamin E ^​10​ .

3. Enhanced Skin Penetration

Studies have shown that microemulsions provide the most suitable formulations for effectively and stably combining water soluble (Vitamin C) and oil soluble (Vitamin E) ingredients^​7​. Encapsulation of Vitamin E in nano-structures combined with Vitamin C improved skin delivery of both Vitamin E and Vitamin C^​8,9​. Using these structures increased the solubility of both vitamins and resulted in much higher levels of skin penetration^​8​ and effective action. Addition of colloidal silica to a microemulsion containing Vitamin C and Vitamin E provided enhanced pentration^​7​.

4. Enhanced Skin Collagen Repair and Replacement

Microemulsions loaded with Vitamin E and Vitamin C have been shown to increase penetration of both vitamins and increase collagen deposition^​8​.

5. Enhanced UV Protection

Both Vitamin C and Vitamin E provide protection against skin aging damage from UV radiation. When topical Vitamin C is combined with Vitamin E in topical formulation, there is a four-fold increase in protection against UV-induced erythema^​4​ over what the individual vitamin treatments. This results in a decrease in the number of damaged “sunburn cells” from UV exposure. Ferulic acid, a potent antioxidant, when mixed with Vitamins C and E in formulation acts synergistically to provide and eightfold increase in skin UV photoprotection^​10​. It has also been shown that combining Vitamin C and Vitamin E together is a combined formulation helps to stabilise the formulation and reduce formulation oxidation^​5​.

Discussion

“The biggest challenge to using Vitamin C in formulation is the stability of L-Ascorbic Acid because it quickly degrades in water^​6​. Despite many stabilisation attempts, L-Ascorbic acid remains too unstable to be incorporated in water solution skincare formulations.”

Although many cosmeceutical formulations contain Vitamin C and/or Vitamin E, very few of them are actually effective in topical application^​4​. Either the concentration is too low, the formulation stability is compromised or the vitamins fail to penetrate the skin. However, with the development of new nano-encapsulation formulations, topical combinations of Vitamin C and Vitamin E provide synergistically enhanced skincare benefits.

References